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Science Journal of Sociology and Anthropology
ISSN:2276-6316
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Volume 2013, Article ID sjsa-211, 3 Pages, 2013, doi: 10.7237/sjsa/211
Short Communication
THE HENEMEUTICS OF 'GIVING': TOWARDS PEACEFUL HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL RELATION
IN THE WORLD
Valentine Ehichioya Obinyan, Ph.D
Faculty of Art, Department of philosophy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria.
Accepted 8th January, 2013
ABSTRACT
Man by nature is a rational being and the compatibility of his desire
with the open endedness of the universe is a problematic
phenomenon which considers at ones the community or social
structure of man as a being borne into a community from which
he derives, is personality, purpose, meaning, dignity and value.
Thus peaceful coexistence and sustenance is man's direct
responsibility. Within the confined of such aforementioned
analysis, it is crystal clear that giving in all dimensions has deep
psychological implications for determining man relations with
others and his environment and to examine this unique disposition
is the onus of this research. In this process a number of questions
arise; What is the quality of our relation with our fellow men and
the world around us and how conscious are we of this heavy
responsibility? With the critical analysis method, the researcher
examines giving and its psycho-social implication for peaceful
human and environmental relation and concludes that being
conscious of our actions to others and the environment is an
imperative.
KEYWORDS: Henemeuticss, Giving, peaceful, environmental,
World, Relation
INTRODUCTION
Giving is a gift every man does not have. However as a gift,
it is disposed to possession; it is open to becoming a part, or
nature of any man. Giving is the psycho-social determinant
of what eventually becomes of human relation. Human
relation is the sum total of the involvement and interrelating
process of a community. Sociologically, a community is the
product of a group of individuals clinging, sharing or
interrelating over a period of time. Philosophically, a
community is the quit-essence of being in fact the sense of
belongingness hence according to John Mbiti¹ (1969), we
can well echo, ‘I am because we are’ that is I belong therefore
I exist. Psychologically, a community is the structure of
mental and bodily function of individuals; it is personality
defined.
Functionally considered, a community is the action of certain
group of individuals to come together, freely decided,
through or out of continuous or constant transvaluation and
identification of self. This obviously become the foundation
for a consensus of modes of operation within the community
thus erecting structures to protect lives and property, define
personality and deeply answers the question ‘who are you?’
Hegemonyically, this coming together results into forming
a social structure, historical origin, values/morals, religious
periscope, economic mechanism, philosophical dialectics
and political structure like the Leviathan or the sovereignty
of Thomas Hobbes and Jean Jack Rousseau² (1991).
Existentially, giving and human relations are philosophical
realities that engender the determination of a balance
human relation in a community or in fact the universe.
Consequently therefore, the amount of self given,
determines the amount or form of human relation realized
that is; either chaotic or peaceful human relation.
METHODS
We shall adopt the critical analysis and hermeneutics
method. This is a research method employed for the analysis
of data, materials, results etc. with the critical analysis
method, research materials are critically analyzed or broken
down to identify their constituent parts; it also makes easy
conceptual comprehension as the researcher who uses the
method engages in a systematic intellectual process to
succinctly crystallize a concept. Critical analysis method will
aid a lime light understanding of the quint essence of this
research and show its implication and relevance to human
existence. However, the hermeneutics will aid an
interpretation of the concepts.
The Psychological Implication of Giving: A Step Towards
Peaceful Human Relation in the World
Psychologically, when Sigmund Freud (1987) described man
a bunch of neurosis³, he may as well be informing an
interpretation of the voluntarity and involuntarity of human
actions. Thus whether actions are directed consciously or
unconsciously at the world, it is in fact giving or relating.
Giving in dynamics of human relational process therefore,
is both physical and spiritual while it is as well metaphysical.
Physically, giving in human relation is the observable acts
of the society or her individuals.
Making allusion to E. A. Rush and Anyanwu (1981) as well
as Placid Tempels (1959) when they noted that there are
different forces in the world and each reduce or increase⁴,
mal or make the other, it is logically inferable that whatever
we emit consciously or unconsciously, affects the others in
the world negatively or positively. By the ‘other’ here, we
mean an ontological categorization that goes beyond
humans, to plants, animals, and the environment; in fact the
universe and everything in it in wholistic terms. Hence
spiritually considered, giving is the unseen realities of
desires, wishes, thought, aspirations, disposition, will or
prayers; the totality of mental activities of the human mind
or in fact the mind of the cosmos beaming to its contingents.
Corresponding Author: Valentine Ehichioya Obinyan, Ph.D
Faculty of Art, Department of philosophy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria.
Email:tatjana.volkova@ba.lv
Science Journal of Sociology and Anthropology(ISSN:2276-6316)
page 2
As a metaphysical phenomenon, giving is the transcendental
fulcrum of our existence. In this dimension, to exist is to give
and to give is to relate thus what is given in human relation
is a question, whose answer should lie in or must be directed
at the general good. ‘Giving’ will be giving therefore if and
only if it is ‘towards the good of the whole’. Many reasons
perhaps account for why the stoics and Christians moralist
like St Augustine, Plato and Socrates, averred that it will be a
greater show of freedom should those feelings be suppressed
or re‑directed towards the activities that strengthens the "whole"⁵
(V. E. Obinyan, ‘Man As A ‘Being-With’ In Esan Ontology’
Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Ph.D Dissertation). As a
psychological determinant of human relation that is aimed
at peaceful relations in the world, giving to a large extent
structures the faculties of a nation, state, organization,
globalization and the universe as it implies functionalism or
ethics oriented actions with a load of responsibility.
environmental categories avers man the opportunity to
‘know thyself’ in a constantly relating world of both physical
and spiritual realities. Giving exults the human relation of a
political society, hence for political consistency and
commitment process that will bring to bear peace and
development of the general, alote must be given by both the
governed and the governor, the ruled and the rulers.
Although Samuel Huntington (2012) has streamlined
political theories to the background of an evolutionary⁸
,
process, however,
for the experience of a truly balance
family, transcendent society, peaceful world and transparent
democratic Nigeria, alote must be given to achieve the
greater good of human relation. This constructs also
structures the giving and human relations in the
economic/social instrumentalities. Giving like a submarine
is the psychological oil of the human relational engine of a
political, social, economical machine.
From a purely ontological dimension, giving in human
relation transcends the activity of man with man to that of
man with other anthropoids or seen and unseen realities. In
the ontological pyramid of being as I noted elsewhere,
relational process is an express description of a good
relation made possible by the act of giving. From a
diagrammatic illustration⁶ (V. E. Obinyan, Ibid), we can
understand that God is the Supreme Being, who is the first and
at the top in the hierarchical placement of beings controlling
the whole universe but under Him are what we can call
ministers to whom he delegates power to control the world
and perform some worldly functions on his behalf. Hence, next
to Him is the realm of Divinities, then comes the realm of the
Ancestors and follows the realm of Man, then finally the realm
of things; animate and inanimate.
Religiously, giving is the very essence of our being. By the
virtue of creation, or our creative process as recorded in the
biblical creation analogy, giving as a substance of human
nature and as an ingredient for human relation cannot be
over emphasized. By the verbalization of ‘let there be’⁹,
something was of taking and from nothing to make a thing
and the act taking and eventual making is a giving made
possible by a relational of sacrifice. By this chemistry of
‘giving relation’ between God and his creatures. Man who
became the birth of such love-dynamics or sacrificial relation
was caused to give all he has in exchange for a peaceful
human relation. Thus the act of not giving disallows human
relations and results in aggrandizement and eventual
infulfillment, bitterness, aggressiveness, extremism, war,
economic meltdown, religious proliferation and
gangsterism¹⁰, social and moral decadence and ecological
quagmires. It also results in hollow religiosity, or religious
gangstarism, bokoharimism, militancy and political insanity.
Our world is further distant and dangerously affected by an
ever increasing rate of ecological disasters ranging from
typhoon, tsunamis, earthquake, volcanic eruptions,
pollution, depletion, and many others as well as flood. Man
has been ‘race guided’ by scientific advancement and hyperconscious materialism; he has taken so much from the
environment and given less or in fact given the worse thus
affecting the psycho-social-spiritual balance or relation
between man, plants, animals, and inanimate existents. This
has taken billions of lives and properties, rendering many
homeless, sick and with other harsh health or physical
challenges or conditions.
With God at the top, and other beings after, a fundamental
relational process is felt at once. There is a constant
exchange of value and an ever willing desire to give up
something for the sake of the other. Toward peaceful human
relation in the world, therefore, a morality or justice
consciousness; of respect and consideration of the other
before any action is taken is thus implied. Such
consciousness is the fundamental ingredient of a stable or
balance human relation in the community of beings⁷. From
this ontological perspective, giving and human relation is an
obligation of man as well as all life forms; plant, animal,
animate or inanimate in fact the human natural environment.
Rethinking Giving and Human Relation as Deep
Implication for a constantly Changing World.
Who would think that the sun does not wish to shine for
eternity but allowing the dynamics of giving, it encourages
a relation that permeates a peaceful co-existence between
her and the components at her realm. Just as the moon, the
stars, the cloud, the planets and particularly man and his
environment.
That we already have an idea of these challenges in recent
time is an epistemological presupposition, however, the case
in Nigeria, especially in Anambra, Edo, Kogi, Delta state and
other parts of the world¹¹ are our closest examples. Our
emphasis therefore is that we must give much of what we
hold so dear so as to restore our lost spiritual equilibrium
that will metamorphose good human relation and peaceful
co-existence.
The environment is the sum total of human endeavors; the
political, the social, the religious, the economical. These
How to Cite this Article: Valentine Ehichioya Obinyan "The Henemeutics of 'Giving': Towards Peaceful Human and Environmental Relation in the World "
Volume 2013, Article ID sjsa-211, 3 Pages, 2013, doi: 10.7237/sjsa/211
Page 3
CONCLUSION
That we cannot give what we don’t have is a truism. But
having asserted that our existence is made possible by a
‘giving in relation’, the fact that we are givers by nature is
indisputable. The question is; what do we give? Do we give
what is necessary, good, and guided? Do we give the truth?
Do we give ourselves? How much of good human relation do
we promote? How much of nationhood consciousness do we
give? How much of peace have we related or promoted? We
are ambassadors of a world that is made possible by acts of
giving in good human relation.
A total giving of self in sacrifice for peace, freedom and
progress is the imperative for humanities continuity.
Towards peaceful human relation, therefore we must stand
for, preach, live and fight to give to all; the displaced by flood,
war and diseases, the poor, the disoriented, the scared, the
weak, the unsecured, the downcast, the betrayed, the
rejected and the environment, the self.
Our analysis depicts humanitarian ethics and this spawns
social morality, the morality of the common good, and the
morality of duty, the morality of responsibility that is so
comprehensive as to bring within its compass what are
referred to as moral ideals (such as love, virtue,
compassion), which are considered supererogatory in every
society and capable of founding a humancentric
globalization. However, basic to this analysis of giving
towards peaceful human relations is the morality of
character or integrity that gushes from the backdrop of our
human essences.
By the very nature of our being, we are change agents of the
world. Therefore, for the success of the moral life of the
individuals and the community which is a function of the
quality of personal lives as shown above, we must embrace
and popularize the spirit and philosophy of integration. The
success of this advocacy lies in the conception that there are
certain basic moral norms and ideals to which the conduct
of the individual human being, if he is a person, ought to
conform. Recognizing all men as brothers by reason of our
common humanity as emphasized above, is indeed a lofty
moral ideal that must be cherished and made a vital or
robust feature of the ethics of our world. It is a barricade
against developing narrow-minded attitudes toward peoples
of different cultures or skin, colours and tongue, who are
bonafide members of the universal human family or human
race.
Science Journal of Sociology and Anthropology(ISSN:2276-6316)
forces of compulsion because in and from our very soul is
the cry, the hunger, the thirst, the search, the fight for a
change; that restoration, that healing, that force, vulcanized
by this study.
Above all, we must give a little smile, a little home, a little
time, a little hope, a little money, a little wave, a little
confidence, a little perseverance, a little life, a little of all the
good in us to get the greatest good of human relation. We
never can tell who might get hurt finally. You are lifting me
today, you never can tell if your lifting me is exactly what
you need to be lifted. If you save me and you save you, we
have saved the world. Save me, save you, save all.
REFERENCE
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Aghamelu, F. C. (2005) "Culture and Freedom: A philosophical
Foundation of the Igbo African Traditional Society", in M.
Dukor ed. Phil. of science and society: Afri. Phil. and Path. of G
and Trad, 2. p. 107-112
2.
Frued, S., (1987) "Culture Restricts Man's Freedom", in
Freedom ed. Dewey R. London Macmillan, p. 290
3.
Huntington, S. P., The clash of civilization and the emerging
world order… http://www.s.huntington.clashofcivilization/
bio/books.htm...19/09/2012
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Mbiti, J. S., (1969) African Religion and philosophy. Nairobi:
Heinemann Kenya ltd., p. 14.
5.
Mbiti, J. S., (1969) African Religion and philosophy. Nairobi:
Heinemann Kenya ltd., p. 14.
6.
Shiner, H. K. (1978), Good News Bible with Deuterocanonical
and Apocrypha, New York: American Bible Society, Gen.1.131/2.1-25
7.
Tempels, P., (1959) Bantu Philosophy. Paris: Presence
Africaine, pp. 64-33. See also Ruch E. A. and Anyanwu, K.C.,
(1981), African philosophy: An Introduction to the Main
Philosophical Trends in Contemporary African Philosophy.
Roma: Catholic Books Agency, p. 7
We must finally bear in as we listen to the echoes of our souls
that there is no force on earth that can escape to that which
is the force of the earth; the force of ‘being’. The movement
which carries us along is by nature a collective experience
which tends to make us completely and equally human. Ipso,
Facto, as vital forces-‘Etin’ of the universal form‘Usuagbon’¹², we are called to obey to this inner drive of our
being and the universe, which seeks to make us one and if
we become aware of this profound ordering of things, we
will be able to allow to human person to pass beyond the
enforced phase, where it now is; as in this theoretical frame
work, to the free phase: that in which men, having learnt in
consequence to love the pre-ordained forces that unite them
and others in the world, a natural union of affinity and
sympathy founded on a universal ethics will supersedes the
How to Cite this Article: Valentine Ehichioya Obinyan "The Henemeutics of 'Giving': Towards Peaceful Human and Environmental Relation in the World "
Volume 2013, Article ID sjsa-211, 3 Pages, 2013, doi: 10.7237/sjsa/211